“In this area, there is an extremely strict control over women’s bodies and sexuality, and these things are monitored very closely,” says feminist scholar Farzana Bari.
The Kohistan incident has sparked outrage across the country and reignited a conversation about Pakistan’s failure to protect women. Given the need to patch legal loopholes, address deeply rooted cultures of misogyny, and strengthen support systems for women, advocates say curbing honor killings will require all hands on deck – and enthusiastic backing from the state.
Is women's safety enough to motivate legal and cultural change? Rights defenders say honor killings – one of the most extreme forms of gender-based violence – are rampant in Pakistan.